Field Carriages on Boat Decks

I have seen references of field carriages on gun boats, even spotted them in pictures. The CSS Curlew had "rifled and banded 32lbr on bow and a brass 12lb on field carriage on stern." Can anyone show me how a field carriage was "rigged" to be "flexable" enough to allow it to swing port to starboard and not recoil off of the boat on the shot?

Unless the boat deck is well braced and well supported a field gun will do a lot of damage when it is fired. Period guns did not have recoil mechanisms so the force of the explosion would either drive the gun back or have to be absorbed by the ground or structure underneath.

Think you are referring to the Dahlgren 12lb boat howitzer. It was to be sent ashore with landing parties.

I did just run across a reference in a short bio of Farragut by Robert J. Schneller, Jr., that Farragut preferred to have Dahlgren naval howitzers still mounted on their field carriages, rather than on the specially-designed boat carriages, which apparently annoyed Dahlgren himself...

Here's a photo of Farragut on the Hartford, leaning against a Dahlgren howitzer on a field carriage.

Hi Guys,

There is a picture of a monitor on the James river, posed similar to the one above, execpt facing foward, where the 12-pounder gun-how has ropes tied along the whole wheel's rims (always believed that that was for gripping the wet decks of the Monitor). Never looked at the bottom of the tail of the gun to see if any changes were done there also.
That picture might be in the book "the picture history of the USN". Will check.

Grizz

Mark F. Jenkins said:

I did just run across a reference in a short bio of Farragut by Robert J. Schneller, Jr., that Farragut preferred to have Dahlgren naval howitzers still mounted on their field carriages, rather than on the specially-designed boat carriages, which apparently annoyed Dahlgren himself...

Here's a photo of Farragut on the Hartford, leaning against a Dahlgren howitzer on a field carriage.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean by field carriage as opposed to boat carriage....

Never mind i think i got it figured out...

However i don't understand why Dahlgren would be opposed to the guns being on the field carriages...since they were apparently designed to be mobile on a boat deck...

In this contemporaneous watercolor of the small USS Alexandria, you can see one of each:

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/s45.1bp1.jpg

On an open deck with ample space, a field carriage would be more maneuverable (to be brought to bear on a perceived threat from any angle) than a traditional naval carriage. It could probably also be knocked down and struck below more easily when the need came.

corn-fed-erate's original question is still on the table; how would a field gun be secured for firing? On a smooth surface like a ship's deck, I don't imagine you'd want to let it just roll backwards.

I don't recall seeing any sort of checking or restraint mechanism in period photos.

agree to what Andy said, execpt for that 12 pounder on the monitor's deck have never noticed any modifactions. but if you check out the wheels of the gun that Andy posted it appear that there is something there that might be attached to the bottom of each wheel. if the wheel was attached to a flat surface wouldn't friction help slow down the recoil length? How far would they roll back anyways?

The navy at this time was still using the marsilly carriage and that only used 2 front wheels understand that tackles were still used to control the recoil but a 9-inch Dahlgren gun weighted 9.020 pound vs a boat gun.
types; 12-pounder light how 430 lbs (600 lbs with boat carriage)
12- '' med '' 760 lbs ( 1200 '' '' '' '' )
24 '' how 1,31o '' ( 2000 '' '' '' )

Later, other types were designed;
a lighter 12-pounder 300 lbs
a 12-pounder 880 lbs
20-pounder mlr 1340 lbs
30 -pounder mlr 3550 lbs

all Dahlgren guns.

Nothing about any recoil devices for the western rivers shipping


(Arming the fleet: S. Tucker) P 200-203


Havn't read that book in a while, forgot all about the 13'' Dahlgren gun



GRIZZ

Andy supplied two more great pictures, the coments above was for the gun between the stacks, but as I look at the second group of pictures, the second one has the wheels of the cannon tied up like the one on the monitor's deck.(execpt on the monitors gun thicker ropes were used and they were tied closer together).

GRIZZ

From Gunnery Catechism as Applied to the Service of Naval Ordnance, by J. D. Brandt (1864), p. 150:




The book also gives specific commands and positions for drill with the field carriage (p. 145 ff), and places two men on either side, five yards behind the piece, to roll it back into position after firing. So presumably that's about the distance it was expected to recoil.

Trail wheel rotated up about 90 degrees:

Y'all see. Just give it time and the good info will come out. Andy, many thanks. In the photo of the the gun between the stacks I can see the wheel chocks. In the close up on the one with the man sitting in front of it, by his left elbow looks like part of the same type of chock. Andy, in fact, we at Fort Branch have one that was recovered in 1977. Ours it shorter, about 14" long all iron. What I have never checked is if the iron part that would bolt to a seige and garrison carriage wheel had holes in it indicating it may have been bolted to a longer flat peice of iron or sturdy plank to further reduce roll back. The longer the flat piece was the more the gun would be forced to SLIDE across the deck. Isn't it amazing what you can miss if you just take a quick glance!

Hm. Are there any firing originals or replica Dahlgren boat howitzers in the reenactment community?